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Monday, September 20, 2010

Day Five

And on we go.

My fourth night was uneventful. I heard no mobs outside and found few resources in my little mine. The sun rose and I said goodbye to my hovel beneath the majestic mountain. 'Majestic' to look at, at least, but now I had to figure out how to get over it.The incline seemed more consistent to the south (to my right), so I went at it with a spade and managed to clamber to the top.

Looking west and not looking down.

The mountain continued to rise above me, but I had enough space to on my landing to get to the far side. The southern ocean that I seem to have been following for quite a while was visible again. It was seeming more and more likely that I would have to cross it before long.

.

But for now, I still had to get off this mountain, and that was proving difficult.

Hmmm....

In the end, I ended up circling towards the south where the gradient was more forgiving. Quite some time passed before I was back on my eastward course. Looking back west at the mountain, I see the entire eastern side is just as sheer.

.

But at last, it is time to turn my back on the mountain and continue on my journey. I wonder if I will see such a landmark again in my quest. Only time will tell, I guess. The ground is, thankfully, quite flat after the mountain. And even offers me a few rewards:

Why hello there. Om nom nom.

As expected, the ocean did indeed wrap around, and it was time to say goodbye to this mountainous continent.

New lands.

I chopped down a nearby tree, crafted my boat, and set sail. Though, it was not long before land appeared.

.

Feeling somewhat impatient and eager to keep moving, I decided it was time to deviate slightly from my course. Instead of abandoning my boat, I would follow the coast around south. This turned out to be the right decision as just over the hill, the ocean hooked north again into a deep canal.

Keep it steady...

I kept my speed down, not too keen on the idea of swimming. After some tricky maneuvering, I left my boat of a sand bank and stepped properly on the third continent of my travels.

So long, boat!

Looks like I won't be doing more climbing, at least.

The terrain was instantly distinguishable from the last continent. More hills greeted me to the north and south, but no intimidating cliffs. The hills here were more gradual, more rolling. As the sun began to sink, my stroll was quite leisurely.

Looking north.

It wasn't to last, however. By about mid-afternoon, the ground began to rise and drop sharply. And then i found the most evil looking cave i have yet seen.

This does look like a skull, right? Or is it just me?

The sun would be setting soon, but I gave the caves a quick look over. They were deep and multi-pathed. I considered spending the night in them, but there were too many entrances to guard. Without a single block of iron or coal mined, I decided to push on and find a more manageable cave for the night. I had to hurry, as the sky was already darkening. I considered turning back to the skull cave, but then I finally spied what looked like a hole on the side of a hill. A hole it indeed was, but not the kind I was looking for:

Beautiful. But not what I had in mind. (Looking north)

Through the hole was an entire valley. I decided I probably had enough time to work my down and get to the eastern cliff-face. If I could find no caverns, I would dig out the visible coal and hide in there. The trick, though, would be getting down. The decent was not just sheer, but overhanging. Chipping away at the wrong block could send me tumbling quite the distance. It was slow work and the sky was getting darker.

Stars mean hurry up!

In the end I jumped. Not too far, but I felt it. Nothing some mushroom stew wouldn't heal when I was safely underground. I decided I didn't have time to search for a cavern so I headed straight for the coal and started digging with my iron pick, not wanting to waste any more time. I could already hear the spiders. Less than a minute later I was inside with the entrance glassed up.

Not too shabby for a rush job.

Not a moment too soon. It did not take long for the night to fill with the moans of zombies and hisses of creepers and spiders. I considered replacing the glass with stone. Would creepers sacrifice themselves to blow up the glass if they knew I was inside? I decided I was being paranoid. I tried to get some mining done, but the noises were too distracting, and I was scared I would get myself ambushed from some cavern. It was going to be a long, stressful night, and I was not looking forward to stepping outside in the morning.

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Hello! Welcome to Towards Dawn, a Minecraft tale not about mining, but about walking. Check out the About page for a more detailed description, or start reading from the very beginning.This is a side project of mine. I also write about games at Critical Damage.Mega thanks to Emma Arnold for crafting me up a little banner to brighten the place up. She has a blog and I owe her a plug, so you should go check it out!

About Me

Is a Media and Communications PhD student at RMIT University. Holds a BA in Writing and Japanese with Honors in Communication and Cultural Studies. Is a freelance videogame critic and journalist for the likes of Edge, Polygon, Hyper, Unwinnable, Gamasutra, Pixel Hunt, Ars Technica, and PC Powerplay.
Can be contacted at brendankeogh86 at gmail dot com or on Twitter at BRKeogh.

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Hopefully you enjoy reading my adventure as much as I am enjoying having it and writing about it. If you so wish, please feel free to express this enjoyment in some kind of fiscal way below. But also feel free not to! The wishes of good luck and shouts of motivation in the comments of each post are more than rewarding enough :).